Bradenton Christian hires new football coach, athletic director

Bradenton Christian announced the hiring of Zach Van Duinen as the school’s new athletic director and Daniel Fort as the program’s new head football coach on Friday.

Van Duinen and Fort succeed Allan Gerber, who had been with BCS as head football coach since 2008 and athletic director since 2010.

Fort has experience coaching high school football in Florida. He spent the 2016 season as the assistant head coach and passing game coordinator for Foundation Academy in Winter Garden. He also coached at Foundation from 2009-13. Between stints with the Lions, Fort was the head coach and athletic director at San Jacinto Christian Academy in Amarillo, Texas. Fort went 6-23 in three seasons with San Jacinto Christian. Foundation went 7-5 with Fort as its top assistant in 2016 with an appearance in the Class 2A-Region 2 finals.

Fort will begin with the Panthers in April.

“Daniel will do an outstanding job preparing the hearts and minds of our students through the game of football and in the classroom,” Bradenton Christian Superintendent Dan Vande Pol said in a statement. “Our goal is to develop young men and eventually become outstanding college students, husbands, fathers, employees or employers, Christian church members and contributors to society.

“We believe Daniel will be a positive role model and influence on our entire school through this role.”

Van Duinen comes to Bradenton from Lansing, Mich., where he is the athletic director at Lansing Christian. Van Duinen plans to start at BCS this summer.

Bradenton Christian is coming off arguably the most successful football season in program history. Playing in the Sunshine State Athletic Conference for the first time, the Panthers reached the postseason for the first time in school history before losing in the first round.

Bradenton Christian’s entire athletic department has found success in recent years, too. The Panthers’ boys basketball team reached the state championship in 2016 and its girls team reached the state semifinals this winter.

This story was originally published March 31, 2017 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Bradenton Christian hires new football coach, athletic director."